When it comes to drug spending, there is one 500lb gorilla in the room: America. The US market has long been the heavyweight player — Americans shelled out more than $600bn on medicines last year, almost half the global total.The country also dominates the research pipeline; its research and development spending accounts for nearly two-thirds of the OECD total. Last year, the US had 10,265 drugs in the works, more than double both China and the EU, and four times as many as the UK.
While this means that US priorities play an outsized role in setting the research agenda, other nations quietly benefit from piggybacking on American innovation. This week’s move by the Biden administration to target 10 top-selling medicines for tough price regulation will rock this global market.
The drive to cut the prices paid for blockbuster heart, stroke, diabetes and cancer treatments will not just trim drugmaker profitability. It could also reshape drug discovery, affecting what medicines are available to patients worldwide.